Clarity on 'Karm is Dharm'

Universe, cosmic bodies, nature, prakiti, trees, ants to elephants, moles to mountains all are doing their karm. Not their job. Whatever karm Supreme Intelligence has assigned to them, they are doing that assigned karm. Brahmand or universe is doing the karm of its dharm. Same goes for humans. Human is the highest creation of nature. He has been given some karm on this planet earth too, and this karm is his dharm; because he is in this world and has a mind, he has to balance his worldly jobs, actions, deeds, work meaning kaam with dharm towards his own being and the world – inner and outer karm. This karm is dharm.

Inner karm dharm of a human is towards his body, mind and soul.

Body: when you keep it clean, clothe it well, protect it from germs, feed it healthy food, keep it healthy…this is not your job, this is your karm towards your body, this is your dharm, to keep body clean and healthy and energised. What you do to fulfil this dharm, is karm.

In the scriptures, this is called shareer dharm – the karm-dharm towards your body.

Mind: when you keep positive thoughts, expelling all the thoughts of resentment, anger and those not desirable for your growth, this is karm- dharm towards your mind

We also have another important karm dharm towards ourselves and that is to experience sat-chit-anand…experience peace and bliss inside.

This knowledge is a gift of Vedic seers to us. According to them, our duty towards our soul is to keep it free from guilt and fear, to be truthful, to feel – sat-chit-ananda – bliss -- perpetual anand.

This karm dharm is part of sanatan -- eternal dharm, reflection of which can be seen in every religion.

This is antrik or inner karm

The other part of shareer dharm - outer karm.

How to nurture or look after your body for growth and evolution? For this you will have to earn a living…what you do to earn your living is your job…and whatever you do -- job, action, kaam – is all part of outer shareer dharm.

For Pranam, outer karm means doing whatever is in front of you with all your capacity – mental, physical, financial… the karm which is done with our whole being...yet selflessly ...without and expectation...makes us free of cycle of cause and effect.

This is how karm should be performed...Pranam always states that inner and outer, both karm are required for growth. This is manav dharm.

Outer karm is nothing more than action…when it is performed with a sense of doership and expectation; performed in this manner it cease to be joyful, it turn into a job, a chore, something that is tiresome.

So nishkam karm is dharm.

When we say ‘karm hi karm ko kaattha hai – only karm can cut karm’ it refers to the karm directed by dharm.

One very important thing to realise and relate to is that when we are doing our dharm karm towards our body mind soul truthfully, it enables us to perform better in the world. This is true spiritual way of life. When soul is free of guilt and fear, body is healthy and mind is free of anger, resentment and negative thoughts, you will be able to perform better in the world. This is true spirituality.

It is a rightful way which is true dharm which propels us towards right conduct at right time.

English language does not have an apt word for ‘karm’. Karm is mistakenly translated as work.

Human has to refine natural instincts and to do karm which is his dharm -- for growth, evolution and welfare of all – so keeping soul free of fear and guilt; nurture the body to fulfil the dharm of mind by having good relations with all around – with yourself and your environment.

Also you do your duty karm to the fullest to be out of fear and guilt.

A job done with whole being, your whole capacity becomes an offering to the divine – it resurrects the antrik inner karm because work or job done thus, frees the soul of fear and guilt.

True dharm is that which is governed by laws of nature and makes us assist the highest karm of growth and evolution. Supreme’s dharm is to do karm which gives movement, gait or pace to time cycle. If Supreme does not do its karm, how will creation evolve.

Kaam is often mistaken for karm. It is not the same thing but is interlinked. Your job, occupation, kaam, is meant to help you fulfil your dharma-karm towards your body mind and soul…

All jobs are part of karm, but all karm is not part of job or kaam

I often state “I am not a religious person, but I do my things so religiously that it becomes my religion”…….

Pick up any shastra, Vedas, Upanishad and more importantly, the Gita, the special point they make is that they have defined right conduct in different situations in very clear words…raj dharm, mantri dharm, santaan dharm, even stree dharm, and purush dharm. You name the field and we have the dharma – right conduct at the right time for it. There is shikshak dharm and chhatra dharm. There is rashtra dharm – be a patriot. And what you do to fulfil your dharm -- right conduct at right time -- towards the country, son, wife, husband etc… is karm.

All our life’s karm dharm was defined so beautifully, but later on it was turned into karmkaand – rituals, sects according to human’s mind. The unique thing about Vedic tradition is that it has defined the dharm of each sphere of human life you can think of. They established every one’s karm as dharm so that family, society, country all are propelled towards growth and happiness. Karm dharm were established keeping a holistic vision in mind. If wife’s dharm was to take care of the house, children and family, husband’s dharm was to fend for the family, give maan respect to the wife, treat her like a devi, goddess, protect her and the children….and provide for them…all this helped the smooth functioning of the family and society at large. Wife and husband’s karm thus fulfilling their dharm, but when mind empowered men and women, and selfish motives took over, both husband and wife left their respective dharm and chaos started happening.

Every karm which is right conduct at right time is dharm.

It was the British, especially Thomas Babington Macaulay who believed that the world was divided into two – civilized world and barbarians and one way to subjugate Indians was to delink them from their rich heritage, destroy their culture, their dharm. By wavering from the path of dharm, human is sure to decline.

Your duty karm is also your dharm, not your job. Taking care of your children is your duty karm to fulfil your dharm of a parent.

Sometimes when something unfortunate happens, people say, ‘this is result of our karm’, they use the word karm for destiny… When you don’t do your karm according to dharm well, you sow the seed of imperfection which in turn attracts imperfection in your life.

What nature has bestowed on you, in terms of individual attributes, you have to nourish and flourish them without using mind to change those basic qualities. Nature does not change its nature, Prithvi fulfils its dharm, Sun and Moon follow their own dharm by doing karm, so if the Sun’s dharm is to give us light and jeevan daan, how will it fulfil it’s dharm? He has to do karm for that. He has to burn day and night. To fulfil your dharm you have to do some karm, this karm is your dharm.